Beginning in August, Myrtle Place Elementary will become a French-immersion only school.

The change means that non-immersion kindergarten students who are zoned for Myrtle Place will attend either Broadmoor Elementary or S.J. Montgomery Elementary. The move does not affect current Myrtle Place students.

Myrtle Place has long had a French immersion program, but this will be the first time a Lafayette Parish school has gone entirely to language immersion.

Language specialist Nicole Boudreaux said no other French immersion school sites will be affected.

Some board members questioned the all-French immersion idea, saying it would cause a hindrance to families with elementary school children who live in areas like the Saints Streets or close to downtown.

But Centanni said that since 1990 in the Myrtle Place zone, the only two demographics that have added residents are college-aged individuals and people between the ages of 45 and 60 -- who typically don't have elementary students.

"What we see with Myrtle Place is symptomatic of what's happening in Lafayette Parish," Centanni said before Wednesday's meeting. "Especially in the city of Lafayette, the population is aging."

The all-immersion proposal received support from many parents, including Ashley Lecky, who leads the Myrtle Place PTO.

"I don't know that there's a greater gift you can give someone .. You can actually see the value if you see what a bilingual education costs in a major city," Lecky said. "This will also create a socioeconomically diverse group of parents supporting one another and growing and becoming a shining beacon."

As of the 2012-13 school year, there were 974 students in French immersion in Lafayette Parish schools, including 98 at Myrtle Place.